Cloudy But Happy

 It's not the warmest or brightest day today, but it feels good outside.  I made baguette this morning so the house smells like bread, and I just mowed for the first time so the outside smells like freshly cut grass.  Well, mostly mowed, as the duck is on her nest so there is a small patch in front and below in this picture that I'll need to get later this evening when she's off to feed.  The lawn looks sharp, freshly mowed, the hostas haven't fallen yet and the lilac is blooming nicely - and more purple than I remember seeing in recent years.

We found out that late neighbor Dave's daughter and her husband will be renovating the house next door and hope to move in come fall.  The house is in pretty rough shape and they outlined some big plans, admitting it is a daunting task, but they have a contractor friend that will be doing much of the work.  No small kids and no renters, so we're happy so far and hope all goes well for them.

There's a slight chance of rain and the wind is supposed to pick up this evening, so doesn't look like I'll be having a fire this weekend, but I'm on vacation this coming week plus a couple days after that.  I don't have a ton of plans, just a list of spring chores to do and I'll make a trip down to see my Mom sometime since Mother's Day is tomorrow.  Anyway, Kate is off caring for her Dad so despite the gloom of clouds I'm going to stay happy, get out of the house and go grab a bite to eat and see what's going on in the outside world.  Have a great weekend, everyone.

Oh, I also wanted to mention the cat's little present, a bird feeder just outside the front window for their entertainment.  I'll put couple pictures after the break.

Duck Update

Well, so far so good, as far as I can tell.  I got a pretty good look in the nest today while the mother duck was elsewhere for some reason, and there's at least 6 eggs in the nest.  This picture was from an open window and I'm not sure why she left them uncovered for a bit.

After work today I brought in the trail camera to empty the SD card and see what's happened so far.  I saw all the critters previously mentioned poking around the nest area, some while the mother duck was right there.  Apparently squirrels are slightly afraid of ducks.  

But I did also see a mother opossum come around, which I was hoping I wouldn't as we suspect it was an opossum to get at the eggs the last time.  It doesn't appear she went after eggs this time, but there is a short period between when the camera will take these short videos so it's possible if she was quick about it.

But mostly so far has just been mother duck fussing about her nest.  I put a handful of dead plant I picked from nearby and she used that up quickly.  Later I put some of the failed nest from in back of the garage nearby and she's used some of that, too.  I'm not sure why the video is so pink/purple now.  I thought maybe because the sun was on it but that can't be all the time.  When I replaced it I put it under the other side of the steps so we'll see what it looks like next time.

The duck seems to leave the nest in the evenings before sunset and come back in the early morning to spend all day.  So later yesterday evening I was finally able to get out and plant sunflower seeds in that corner.  But now today I'm waiting for her to leave so I can water them.

The Duck Is Back

We have a duck under our back steps again, maybe the same one as 5 years ago.  We knew that a duck had been there, but there were a couple times we accidentally scared the heck out of them so thought they had moved on.  But, weren't sure so I moved the trail cam to behind the first step and under the second step facing the area.  I've used the trail cam in a few areas since unloading the SD card, it began overlooking the firepit area from the corner of the garage, then I moved it under the step here, then used it for a timelapse of a firepit last night, and after that a timelapse of a nest that was being built on top of the bat house on the garage.  The nest failed, sparrows I believe, everything blew off in the wind.

We hadn't noticed any more duck activity in several days, until today Kate noticed a female mallard land in our back yard and sure enough, she made her way under the stairs.  Just a bit ago I went out and got the trail camera, unloaded the card, then put it under the stair again.  Very carefully, of course, as to not disturb her while sitting on her nest, and also there was a male around the other side of the porch that I didn't want to rile up.  I hope it's at a good angle, but it's there now.

I hate to bring it up, and I'm not hoping it happens again, but it did not end well last time.  While reviewing the video shots of that area just now I've seen a couple different kinds of birds, squirrels, chipmunks, a rabbit, and a cat investigating the area before I saw this clip of the duck waddling in last Tuesday morning.  It's illegal for us to disturb her nest, but eventually something will and it will not be good for the ducks, unfortunately.  I don't think there's eggs yet, but it looks like there will be soon.

Beef and Spring Chores

Yesterday I made the drive to pick up another quarter cow, a split half - meaning we get cuts of meat from the front and back half.  We defrosted and cleaned the freezer maybe a month ago and ordered the beef 2-3 weeks ago.  The place is outside of Mauston about 73 miles away, or about an hour and a quarter drive one way, depending on traffic.  I was hesitant to do that driving on a weekday with weekday traffic but it's light out now until 8:00 pm (and will be until sometime in August!) and I'm glad to have it done and not have to spend the time on the weekend.

This year's haul was more expensive overall but much more meat compared to last year, 108 pounds then and 143 pounds this time, so I think we got a bit of a smaller cow then as the last two before that were about 131 pounds each.  We received all the promised cuts of meat and roasts and a whopping 63 pounds of ground beef compared to 39 last year, so that accounts for 24 pounds of that difference.  And best of all, it actually cost less than last year per pound, ~$5.98 last year and down to ~$5.60 this year.  For everything; steaks, roasts, ribs, soup bones and ground.  You can't get plain ground beef for that price at the grocery store, at least not near this quality.

I know the picture is at a weird angle, I was trying to get it all in  You can't really see how much is in the bottom layer, but another layer of taller baskets and you can see the top of a shopping bag filled with tubes of 1 pound ground.  Everything here is the new beef but for one roast and a few soup bones in the hanging basket from last year.  (After the pic we replaced the other hanging basket with other foods and a few frozen pizzas.)

As usual, I stocked up on the prepared meats from their brand new store, they had a devastating fire last year shortly before we got our last one, so good to see them rebuilt bigger and better.  Anyway, some snack sticks and jerky, some bratwurst and 4 packages of the natural casing wieners that are so good.  I wish I would have grabbed more dried beef, I haven't tried it yet but it sure looks yummy.

This has been a yearly ritual for us since 2016 except for 2020, and we didn't miss that year because of the pandemic but because we got the 2019 cow in October, the last one we got through a friend of a friend.  And probably one year too long for dealing with that as we're so glad we just do it on our own now.  

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The weather finally turned warmer today and we should be above normal in the 70's ºF (about 24 or so ºC) for highs in the foreseeable forecast.  It wasn't nice of Mother Nature to tease us like that last month with almost a week of 80ºF as it made the 40 and 50 degree days since feel much colder.  And while it should be nice it also looks like it may be a little too windy the next couple nights for a fire this weekend, but we'll wait and see.

With the good turn of the weather my to-do list lengthens.  I believe I'm going to plant sunflower seeds this weekend, we got a new TV and I'm going to attempt to hide the wires in the wall, the kitchen faucet needs repairs, windows need cleaning and I'll have to strim the edges of the lawn.  And I forgot about No Mow May, but I believe that's for normal people who have weeds.  I don't think the pollinators will be affected if I mow my grass lawn or not.  Around our yard they'll have the flower beds and gardens.

Okay now, let's fire up that grill!

New Ingredient

I think I'm getting this baguette thing down pretty well now.  My latest bread-related purchases were heavy duty reusable bread bags and of course the diastatic malt powder, and I tried them both out this weekend.

Yesterday, with diastatic malt powder added.

I wanted some kind of bread bags for freezing and for transporting, like taking bread down to my Mom, since I was using so much plastic wrap.  I think what I got will work well, but I may try to make the loaves a bit shorter as the standard bag length seems to be 18" and the baguette is about 16".  They fit, but barely enough left to twist and tie well.  

I tried the malt powder for the first time yesterday and it did seem to make the crust more golden and, well, crustier.  It is very good bread and we couldn't help but snack on a whole one yesterday.  The other two are in the freezer in one of the new bags along with the last loaf from what I made a week ago.  The malt powder package called for 1/2 to 1 teaspoon for every 3 cups of flour, and this recipe calls for about 3 1/2 cups so I used a full teaspoon, but I may try using just a half next time.  On a side note, I much prefer recipes in grams and weigh my flour and water, plus the other ingredients when I can, but I do use the teaspoon and tablespoon for smaller amounts.  Overall, I am very pleased with the results and it has me wondering what other bread I could make and use this in.  I'm open to suggestions!

Last weekend's bread.

I don't have a baker's lame but I'm finding a sharp serrated blade works well.  You can see how I've been trying different cuts.  I've found that the longer cuts tend to flatten the loaf a bit and I should try to keep the cuts above the 'shoulder,' as well.  The shorter cuts in the middle loaf of the top picture are less dramatic looking but seems to work out the best

I've also decided I'm not going to spend my time on hamburger or hot dog buns as what we get from the bakery is good so I just don't think it's worth my time and effort.  I've been making baguette almost every weekend recently and can still make other breads when I feel like it, and that's enough for now.  Cheers, everyone.

Weather, Baking and Work

Today's weather report is seasonable temperatures and mostly cloudy, still long pants and jacket weather.  On Sunday we had very light snow flurries at times, still.  But the plants know what time of year it is and are coming in well.  I've even seen signs of mowing around town the last couple days.  Our lawn is getting green but always begins getting longest around the edges, so I will be strimming before mowing, but not until the weekend, maybe.

I've been baking baguette lots, even took some down to my Mom the other day along with some jam swirl bread that I made with orange marmalade this time.  I'll be making more baguette this weekend, almost a weekly thing now, but I ordered some diastatic malt powder to try adding this time.  It's supposed to help the rise, crust and flavor.  If you've baked with it let me know what you thought!  I'm hoping to keep improving and I hope this helps.

Here are our red tulips, flowering amidst tiger lilies in front and alium in back, both coming in nicely.  I took yesterday and today off to get away from work.  Things have not been going well and I have been looking at other jobs.  I just hate to have to start over somewhere else but I can't see staying where I am, either.  Not sure what will happen, only time will tell.

Have a good week, everyone.

Sun, Wind, Snow, Now Hail

No matter what the month, the weather this spring has certainly been interesting.  This was the start of the hail about 11 this morning.  It went on for a few more minutes but it was cold and I was getting wet!

I know I've been mentioning the weather a lot lately, including 4 days in a row now, but it seems it's been more noteworthy for us than normal this year.  We don't often have 12 inches of snow in a day any time of year, let alone in March, and hot summer days in April are just as rare.  Tornado season is coming soon, let's hope we don't get one of those.

Has your spring seemed pretty normal where you are?  Have you had anything like these extremes?

Garden Trail Camera Video

I brought in the trail camera from the garden area to see what it may have captured, and it did capture a few interesting shots.  I changed the setting to just video hoping it would trigger better and it seemed to work.  So here's a few shots from the past week or so of critters small and big and other minor activity.

The squirrel at the beginning is just being very still, it seems the camera must make some small sound when activated as I've seen all animals notice before.  It didn't capture any of the snow the other day and the sun angle gives it a funky hue in the afternoons.  I didn't take any pictures of the firepit last Friday night, but the trail camera did.  The large flames are when I throw the black walnut leaf twigs on the fire, the same stuff I was raking up earlier in the video.  And it ends with an unknown cat on the prowl in the back yard early this morning.  I don't really like the background music, it seems to jump a bit for some reason between clips. But I'm no editor and don't want to spend any more time so it is what it is.

Now, where to place the trail camera next?

Snow Lately

This is what we woke up to this morning.  It started snowing yesterday afternoon off and on, not sticking until overnight, and it continued until about midday when it also started melting faster.  It's almost all melted by now, but still a very chilly day out there today.  It will get more reasonable starting tomorrow, but it may be some time again until we see real nice weather like we had.

No Snow Lately, Anyway

It was another beautiful day yesterday, enough for us to do a few spring things outside.  First off, the gnome has been put out again on the decaying tree stump.  I'm not sure that will be his home for the summer yet, but he signifies the belief that winter will be gone and the hope that comes with spring.

I had a friend over on Friday night for the first fire pit of the year.  I didn't take any pictures, but fire is fire.  I did notice that I hadn't cleaned out the fire pit at the end of last year, I'm not even sure if I had another fire or not after getting another face cord of wood late last year, the way the weather went.  So no pictures of Friday night's fire but I cleaned it up nicely yesterday.  It still has some loose blocks that I haven't done anything about yet.  They haven't been a problem, but there seems to be more so I should probably try another adhesive and get it done this year.

I also took the cover off the garlic and got most of the straw out that covered them over winter.  We still have to do that to the strawberry bed, but there is time.  The raspberries are coming back well, and already escaping the garden so will have to keep them in check.  And Kate got the bed with the monster oregano plant cleaned up after this picture.  That oregano plant got moved when we remade the gardens and didn't even get replanted but just set down on the dirt in that garden.  It has gotten huge but Kate has talked about cutting it down to a reasonable size this year.  In the top middle of the picture you can see where the trail cam is set up currently, attached to the fence and overlooking the gardens.

Lastly, the skies were interesting on Friday night as the conditions must have been optimal for contrails, shown here across much of the sky.  At least two more were being created at the time of this picture, and a plane had just taken off, upper left, to join in, it would seem.

Today is much cooler and getting colder as the day goes on.  It's been raining off and on, but will turn to snow soon and continue through tomorrow morning so we'll see how much we have when we wake up.  And the foreseeable forecast after tomorrow is seasonable with high temperatures in the fifties.  So the last several days were real nice for us, but also unusual for this time of year.  Okay, time to turn the heat back on...